By Cherry Wilson

cherry.wilson@essnmedia.co.uk

Brainy Bill Currie has come up with an inventive idea to stop kids around the country joining gangs - by getting them interested in coming up with new inventions instead.

He wants to see his Being Inventive Through Education (BITE) project rolled out across Britain after a successful pilot at a South Norwood school.

The 53-year-old has received high praise for his Programme 21 scheme, a 21-week programme which has seen youngsters from Cypress Juniors coming up with their own inventions.

He is now in talks with several other schools across the borough who are interested in setting up similar inventors' clubs for their pupils.

They have been impressed by the fact Cypress youngsters' maths and science skills improved thanks to the project.

But Mr Currie hopes to take things even further by eventually getting inventing added to the national curriculum.

"You hear that children as young as 11 are getting involved in violent gang crime," he said.

"Well they are the same age as the kids who took part in Programme 21.

"Kids join gangs because they have got nothing else to do. An inventors' club gives a feeling of camaraderie.

"It redirects their minds and brings so much enrichment to their lives.

"If we can get them young and start channelling their minds, that's how you stop these kids going into this violent gang culture."

Mr Currie, who won the British Invention of the Year prize in 2008, used his own experiences to come up with the scheme.

It proved such a success that the Cypress pupils won a gold medal at the British Invention Show, for an alarm that alerts parents when their child wanders too close to a fire or staircase.

This success has led to Mr Currie's programme being adopted by a school in Barcelona.

He has also written to the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister to tell them about the scheme - and has been told to keep them updated on its progress.

Mr Currie, of Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood, said: "It would be fantastic to see it in the national curriculum.

"That's my long-term goal. It would be great for the kids as they could learn so much.

"The children that belonged to my inventors' club (at Cypress Juniors) have come on so much.

"It brought them out of themselves and they were able to use their maths and science skills.

"But most of all it was about having fun."